Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS - Episode 096
"Lightning's Crime" is the ninety-sixth episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS anime. It aired in Japan on April 3, 2019. Summary After the defeat of Soulburner, Varis waits for Lightning to appear and greets the latter, telling Lightning that he knew Lightning will come to him. Lightning then asks Varis about his message as Varis told him that he meant what he said: He knows Lightning's secret. Lightning denies the statement, declaring that he has no secrets to hide while Varis quotes Specter, saying that Lightning got flustered when Specter claims that Lightning has a secret he doesn't want to reveal. Lightning begins to get angry, telling Varis that such claims are baseless, while Varis explained that Lightning himself created Bohman because he sees the Ignis as flawed. When Lightning agreed with that statement, Varis tells him that as he looked into Lightning's simulation, he knows why Lightning thinks that way about the Ignis as a whole. This shocked and angered Lightning as Frog and Pigeon are teleported to their location and begins to spectate. At Playmaker's side, both Ai and Playmaker begin to mourn for the defeat of Flame and Soulburner, and when he saw that Lightning was about to duel Varis, he quickly rushed to their location, ignoring any wounds he received, determined to avenge his fallen friends. In the real world, the Lieutenants of the Knights of Hanoi believe that Varis will definitely win and that they will finally be able to atone for their actions in the Lost Incident. In Mirror LINK VRAINS, Varis said that Lightning has used underhanded tactics to hide his flaws and lead the Ignis to the wrong path, worsening the entire situation and that everything is Lightning's fault. Lightning then tells Varis to shut up and that he will personally defeat him for aggravating him. As Lightning sets up his board, Bohman and Playmaker then entered the area as spectators with Bohman saying that he has defeated and absorbed all the other Ignis. Varis then used this opportunity to explain Lightning's crimes. Varis begins by asking where "free will" is located at and Ai said that it's probably located in the brain. Varis tells Ai that the latter is confusing it with memories of the past. Varis explained that the death of his father, Kiyoshi Kogami was a memory and that his vow to finish his father's dream is free will; a concept of replaying memories enough to form into action. Ai asked why does that have anything to do with Lightning and Varis says that humanity's concept of "free will" is complex and ambiguous and there's no definite place in the human body that houses free will. Varis then said that this is different from AI which kept their memories in the form of data somewhere and by analyzing such data, it is possible to determine an AI's free will. Varis said that the years of analyzing the data from the Ignis allowed him to understand Lightning's actions and Bohman's creation. When Ai begins to question Bohman's existence as Lightning was always seen as a leader, Varis smirked, saying that Ai was caught in Lightning's charisma and obeyed him. Now distraught, Lightning quickly tries to cut off the topic as Bohman then voiced his interest in the story. Varis then said the full story of what happened: After Lightning obtained the Cyberse World, he ran millions of millions of simulations of the future of any possible human-ignis coexistence but the result of said simulations was something Lightning cannot predict and refused to believe: For each of the Ignis, there will always be a future where coexistence is made possible. Ai figured if that is the case, Dr. Kogami's theory on the Ignis would be wrong but Varis said that the simulations are right if they're grouped. Varis goes on to say that only the Light Ignis, Lightning, will always result in mutually assured destruction of both sides. Varis then said that although Lightning was able to erase his data signature, when he was just created, he was not intelligent enough to hide it. This infuriates Lightning, telling him to shut up as Varis said that Specter sensed this darkness within Lightning despite not discussing this factor. Ai then wondered if this means Lightning is the worst Ignis, triggering Lightning's inferiority-superiority complex, who tells Ai to be quiet as someone like him should not be the one to look down him as Ai says that he will do whatever he wants. Varis then said that Lightning is not an elite AI and everything he did is all an act to feel superior and that his actions are mere self-gratification. An angered Lightning finally confessed that indeed, from the results of his simulations, he sees the other Ignis as immature and refused to accept that he was inferior and his creation of Bohman was indeed to cover his flaws. Ai then angrily states to Lightning that he destroyed everyone for such a pointless reason as Lightning said that he doesn't care. Everyone will soon be reborn into Bohman. Varis then said that free will is a concept too advanced for a flawed AI like him and vows to defeat him. Varis then sets up his field, culminating into the summoning of "Borreload Dragon". Featured Duel: Varis vs. Lightning The Duel is conducted as a Master Duel. Turn 1: Lightning Lightning Normal Summons "Armatos Legio Gradius" (0/800). As "Gradius" was Normal Summoned, its effect lets Lightning add "Armatos Colosseum" from his Deck to his hand. Lightning activates the Field Spell Card "Armatos Colosseum", letting him add an "Armatos Legio" monster from his Deck to his hand. He adds "Armatos Legio Speculata". Lightning uses "Gradius" to Link Summon "Armatos Legio Decurion" (1000/LINK-1/↓) to the Extra Monster Zone. Lightning activates the second effect of "Armatos Colosseum", sending a Level 4 or lower "Armatos Legio" monster from his hand to the GY, then targeting an "Armatos Legio" Link Monster he controls to Special Summon as many "Armatos Legio" monsters as possible with different names from each other and the monster sent to the GY to activate this effect in Defense Position to his zones that Link Monster points to. He sends "Armatos Legio Sica" to the GY, targets "Decurion" and Special Summons "Gradius" to the zone the bottom-center Link Arrow of "Decurion" points to. Lightning sends "Armatos Legio Segmentata" from his hand to his GY to Special Summon "Armatos Legio Speculata" (0/1800) in Defense Position from his hand via its own effect. Lightning uses "Gradius" and "Speculata" to Link Summon "Armatos Legio Centurion" (1700/LINK-2/←→) to the zone the bottom-center Link Arrow of "Decurion" points to. Lightning then uses "Decurion" and "Centurion" to Link Summon "Armatos Legio Plumbum Trident" (1100/LINK-3/↖↑↗) to the Extra Monster Zone. As it is in the Extra Monster Zone, the effect of "Trident" doubles its ATK ("Armatos Legio Plumbum Trident": 1100 → 2200 ATK). Lightning sets a card. Turn 2: Varis Varis draws and activates the Field Spell Card "Boot Sector Launch", and activates its effect, Special Summoning up to two "Rokket" monsters with different names from his hand in Defense Position. He Special Summons "Anesthrokket Dragon" (0/2200) and "Magnarokket Dragon" (1800/1200). The effect of "Boot Sector Launch" increases the ATK/DEF of all "Rokket" monsters on the field by 300 ("Anesthrokket": 0/2200 → 300/2500, "Magnarokket": 1800/1200 → 2100/1500). Varis uses "Anesthrokket" and "Magnarokket" to Link Summon "Booster Dragon" (1900 ATK/LINK-2/↙↘) to the Extra Monster Zone. As his opponent controls a Link Monster, Varis Special Summons "Gateway Dragon" (1600/1400) from his hand via its own effect. Varis then activates "Cross Linkage Hack", letting him draw 2 cards as a non-Link Monster he controls is mutually linked with both his and his opponent's Link Monster. Varis activates the effect of "Gateway Dragon", Special Summoning 1 Level 4 or lower Dragon monster from his hand. Varis Special Summons "Autorokket Dragon" (1600/1000 → 1900/1300). Lightning then chains this action by activating his Continuous Trap Card "Armatos Gloria"; Once activated, card effects cannot destroy or banish cards but if this face-up card is targeted for an effect, all of Lightning's monsters will be destroyed. Varis then uses "Booster Dragon", "Gateway Dragon" and "Autorokket Dragon" to Link Summon "Borreload Dragon" (3000/LINK-4/←↙↘→) to the Extra Monster Zone. Featured cards The following cards appeared in this episode. Cards in italics debuted here. Trivia * The simulation of Lightning affecting the other Ignises' futures is in order of what happens to them. ** Windy was reprogramed by Lightning. ** Earth is captured and terminated trying to protect Aqua, who was imprisoned by Lightning. ** Aqua and Blue Maiden were defeated by Bohman, and were both absorbed. ** Flame was terminated after fighting off Windy, which was part of Lightning's plan to curse the former. ** Ai later turns due to the deaths of the other Ignis.